Conventionally, as a component mounting method for mounting components onto a substrate of display panels typified by liquid crystal panels and PDPs or the like, there has been known a component mounting method including the steps of: pressing onto a substrate an ACF, which is an example of adhesive tape among ACF (Anisotropic Conductive Film) tapes as an example of tape members; thereafter separating a release tape to make an ACF layer applied to the substrate; temporarily pressure bonding, on the ACF layer, such components as TCP (Tape Carrier Package), IC and thin-type LSI package; and thereafter finally pressure bonding the components with heat and pressure applied thereto. In such a component mounting method, an ACF applying apparatus is used for applying of the ACF onto the substrate as shown above.
As the ACF applying apparatus, while an ACF tape wound on a reel is fed, only the ACF layer is cut into a specified length and then fed onto a substrate placed on a stage, and thereafter the ACF tape is pressed by a pressure bonding device so that the ACF layer cut into the specified length is applied onto the substrate. Subsequently, release tape is separated from the applied ACF layer, by which the release tape is collected, and the operation of feeding the next ACF tape is repeated.
In such an ACF applying apparatus, reel replacement, if done after a full exhaustion of the ACF tape wound on an in-use reel, would cause a need for troublesome, time-taking work of setting the ACF tape along a specified route from the beginning. In this case, it becomes necessary to splice together a terminal end portion of the in-use ACF tape and a leading end portion of ACF tape of a newly set reel. In particular, since the length of the ACF tape required for one substrate has been increasing in keeping up with recent years' increasing scales of display panels, the reel replacement needs to be done in short time even with adoption of a reel on which longer ACF tape is wound, and splicing of ACF tape with high workability is an important factor for productivity improvement.
In this connection, there is known a method in which with an end mark provided at a terminal end portion of a reel-wound ACF tape, when the end mark is detected by a sensor, an ACF tape of a new reel is spliced, at its leading end, to the terminal end portion of the in-use ACF tape. More specifically, there are known such methods as one in which while the terminal end portion of the in-use ACF tape is reversed and superposed on the leading end portion of an ACF tape of a new reel, those end portions are spliced together by heating and pressure bonding, or another in which the two tapes are spliced together with a lead tape (see, e.g., Patent Literature 1). Also known are such methods as one in which, as shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B, a release tape 102 at a terminal end portion of an in-use ACF tape 101 and a release tape 112 at a leading end portion of an ACF tape 111 of a new reel are spliced together by using another adhesive tape 121, or another method in which with double-sided adhesive tape applied to a reel or a reel-holding cassette, a terminal end portion and a leading end portion of tapes are spliced together via the double-sided adhesive tape in splicing operation.
In another known method, a splicing tape which is easy to thermally fuse and easy to detect by sensor is preparatorily spliced to both leading and terminal ends of an ACF tape. When the splicing tape at the terminal end of the in-use ACF tape is detected by a sensor, the splicing tape at the terminal end of the in-use ACF tape and a splicing tape at a leading end of an adhesive tape of a new reel are thermally fused so as to make the two tapes spliced together (see, e.g., Patent Literature 2).
In addition, in a known method, for applying of an ACF layer of an ACF tape to a substrate, instead of pressure bonding of the ACF layer by cutting the ACF layer with a cutter and heating and pressuring the ACF layer with a pressure bonding head, ultrasonic vibrations are applied to a vibrator while a vibrating surface of the vibrator is kept in pressure contact with the release tape of the ACF tape, so that the ACF layer of the ACF tape is fused by frictional heat due to the ultrasonic vibrations so as to be applied to the substrate (see, e.g., Patent Literature 3).
Furthermore, in one known method, for mounting of components onto a substrate via an anisotropic conductive film, ultrasonic vibrations in a thicknesswise direction of components are applied from above the components to fulfill the mounting of components onto the substrate (see, e.g., Patent Literature 4).
Still further, in another known method, for bonding of electric wire to joint members such as a metal plate, ultrasonic vibrations in an axial direction of the electric wire are applied to a bonding block, which is a block to be bonded, while the electric wire is pressed by the bonding block, where a contact surface of the bonding block with the electric wire is provided with a multiplicity of protruding portions for antislip use (see, e.g., Patent Literature 5).                Patent Literature 1: JP 2004-196540 A        Patent Literature 2: JP 2005-336447 A        Patent Literature 3: JP 2005-327923 A        Patent Literature 4: JP 2574704 B2        Patent Literature 5: JP 2005-297055 A        